Arts Program (Bryn Mawr)
Department Website:
https://www.brynmawr.edu/arts
Courses in the arts are designed to prepare students who might wish to pursue advanced training in their fields and are also for those who want to broaden their academic studies with work in the arts that is conducted at a serious and disciplined level. Courses are offered at introductory as well as advanced levels.
Students may complete a minor in Creative Writing, Dance or Theater and may submit an application to major in Creative Writing, Dance or Theater through the independent major program. Students may complete a major in Fine Arts or a major or minor in Music at Haverford College. English majors may complete a concentration in Creative Writing.
Arts in Education
The Arts Program offers a Praxis II course for students who have substantial experience in an art form and are interested in extending that experience into teaching and learning at educational and community sites.
Creative Writing
Courses in Creative Writing within the Arts Program are designed for students who wish to develop their skills and appreciation of creative writing in a variety of genres (poetry, prose fiction and nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, etc.) and for those intending to pursue studies in creative writing at the graduate level. Any English major may include one Creative Writing course in the major plan. Students may pursue a minor as described below. While there is no existing major in Creative Writing, exceptionally well-qualified students with a GPA of 3.7 or higher in Creative Writing courses completed in the Tri-College curriculum may consider submitting an application to major in Creative Writing through the Independent Major Program after meeting with the Creative Writing Program director. When approved, the independent major in Creative Writing may also be pursued as a double major with another academic major subject.
Creative Writing Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor in Creative Writing are six units of course work, generally including three beginning/intermediate courses in at least three different genres of creative writing (chosen from ARTW B159, ARTW B231, ARTW B236, ARTW B240, ARTW B251, ARTW B260, ARTW B261, ARTW B262, ARTW B263, ARTW B264, ARTW B265, ARTW B266, ARTW B268, ARTW B269) and three electives, including at least one course at the 300 level (ARTW B360, ARTW B361, ARTW B362, ARTW B364, ARTW B366, ARTW B367, ARTW B371, ARTW B373, ARTW B382), allowing for advanced work in one or more genres of creative writing which are of particular interest to the student. The objective of the minor in Creative Writing is to provide both depth and range, through exposure to several genres of creative writing. Students should consult with the Creative Writing Program director by the end of their sophomore year to submit a plan for the minor in order to ensure admission to the appropriate range of courses.
Concentration in Creative Writing
English majors may elect a three-course concentration in Creative Writing as part of the English major program. Students interested in the concentration must meet with the Creative Writing Program director by the end of their sophomore year to submit a plan for the concentration and must also confirm the concentration with the chair of the English Department.
Dance
Dance is an art and an area of creative work as well as a significant and enduring human behavior that can serve as a core of creative and scholarly inquiry within the liberal arts. The Dance Program offers courses in progressive levels of ballet, modern and jazz, as well as a full range of technique courses in diverse genres and various traditions. Students may also investigate the creative process in three levels of composition and choreography courses. Performance opportunities available to students include our Spring Dance Concert, in which students work with professional choreographers or reconstructors and perform in our main stage theater, and our School Performance Project, which travels to schools throughout the Philadelphia region. The program's lecture/seminar courses are designed to introduce students to dance as a vital area of academic inquiry, and include examinations of dance criticism and theory, dance historiography, dance and embodied activism, and practical anatomy for dance.
Students can take single courses in dance, minor in dance, or complete a major through the independent major program. The core academic curriculum for the dance minor or independent major in dance includes intermediate or advanced technique courses, performance ensembles, dance composition, independent work, and courses in dance studies.
Dance Minor Requirements
Requirements for the dance minor are six units of coursework: three required (ARTD B140, ARTD B142, or ARTD B144 and two .5 credit studio courses: one must be selected from among the following technique courses: B136-B139 or any 200 or 300 level technique course; the second .5 credit course must be a technique course at the 200 or 300 level or selected from among the following performance ensembles: 345-350); three approved electives; and attendance at a prescribed number of performances/events. With the advisor’s approval, one elective in the minor may be selected from allied Tri-College departments.
Independent Major in Dance Requirements
The independent major requires eleven courses, drawn primarily from our core academic curriculum and including: ARTD B140 and one additional dance lecture/seminar course; ARTD B142 and ARTD B144; one 0.5 technique course at the intermediate or advanced level each semester after declaring the major. Participation in performance ensembles is highly recommended. The major also requires attendance at a prescribed number of performances/events, demonstration of basic writing competency in dance by taking two writing attentive or one writing intensive course in Dance or an approved allied program or department, and a senior capstone experience. With the advisor's approval, two electives in the major may be selected from allied Tri-College departments.
In both the minor and the major, students may choose to emphasize one aspect of the field, in consultation with the dance faculty regarding their course of study.
Technique Courses and Performance Ensemble Courses
The Dance Program offers a full range of dance instruction including courses in ballet, modern, jazz, and West African as well as techniques developed from other cultural art and social forms such as flamenco, Classical Indian, hip hop, Latin social dance, and tap dance, among others. A ballet placement class is required for upper level ballet courses. Performance ensembles, choreographed or re-staged by professional artists, are by audition and are given full concert support. The School Performance Project tours regional K-12 schools. Technique courses ARTD 136-137, 230-232, 330-331, and all dance ensembles are offered for academic credit; all technique courses and ensemble courses may be taken for Physical Education credit instead (see both listings below).
Technique/Ensemble Courses for PE Credit
(Check course guide for courses available each semester)
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| PE B101 | Ballet: Beginning Technique |
| PE B102 | Ballet: Intermediate Technique |
| PE B103 | Ballet: Advanced Technique |
| PE B104 | Ballet Workshop |
| PE B105 | Modern: Beginning Technique |
| PE B106 | Modern: Intermediate Technique |
| PE B107 | Modern: Advanced Technique |
| PE B108 | Jazz: Beginning Technique |
| PE B110 | Jazz: Intermediate Technique |
| PE B111 | Hip-hop Technique |
| PE B112 | African Dance |
| PE B118 | Movement Improvisation |
| PE B121 | Tap I |
| PE B123 | Tap II |
| PE B126 | Rhythm & Style: Flamenco and Tap |
| PE B127 | Social Dance Forms: Topics: Intro to Social Dance, Swing, Salsa, Latin |
| PE B129 | The Gesture of Dance: Classical Indian and Polynesian Dance |
| PE B131 | Tap: Learning and Performing |
| PE B145 | Dance Ensemble: Modern |
| PE B146 | Dance Ensemble: Ballet |
| PE B147 | Dance Ensemble: Jazz |
| PE B148 | Dance Ensemble: African |
| PE B149 | Dance Ensemble: Outreach |
| PE B150 | Dance Ensemble: Special Topics (2017- 18: Hip Hop) |
| PE B195 | Movement for Theater |
| PE B196 | Dance Composition Lab |
| PE B197 | Directed Work in Dance |
Courses for Academic Credit
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ARTD B136 | Modern: Beginning Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B137 | Ballet: Beginning Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B138 | Hip Hop Lineages | 0.5 |
| ARTD B139 | 0.5 | |
| ARTD B140 | Approaches to Dance: Themes and Perspectives | 1.0 |
| ARTD B142 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD B144 | Dance Composition: Elements and Craft | 1.0 |
| ARTD B145 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD/ANTH B223 | Anthropology of Dance | 1.0 |
| ARTD B230 | Modern: Intermediate Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B231 | Ballet: Intermediate Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B232 | Jazz: Intermediate Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B240 | Dance History I: Roots of Western Theater Dance | 1.0 |
| ARTD B241 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD B250 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD B265 | Dance, Migration and Exile | 1.0 |
| ARTD B267 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD/ANTH B310 | Performing the City: Theorizing Bodies in Space | 1.0 |
| ARTD B330 | Modern: Advanced Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B331 | Ballet: Advanced Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B342 | Advanced Choreography | 0.5 |
| ARTD B345 | Dance Ensemble: Modern | 0.5 |
| ARTD B346 | Dance Ensemble: Ballet | 0.5 |
| ARTD B347 | Dance Ensemble: Jazz | 0.5 |
| ARTD B348 | Ensemble: African Diaspora Dance | 0.5 |
| ARTD B349 | 0.5 | |
| ARTD B350 | Dance Ensemble: Hip Hop | 0.5 |
| ARTD B390 | 0.5 | |
| ARTD B403 | Supervised Work (Practical Anatomy: Bones, Muscle, Movement) | 0.5 |
| ARTA/EDUC B251 | 1.0 |
Faculty at Bryn Mawr
Tammy CarrascoInterim Director and Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance
Lela Aisha Jones
Assistant Professor and Director of Dance
Rebecca Malcolm-Naib
Visiting Professor of Dance
Courses in Dance
ARTD B136 MODERN: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones, Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
ARTD B137 BALLET: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B138 HIP HOP LINEAGES (0.5 Credit)
Hip Hop Lineages is a team-taught practice-based course, exploring the embodied foundations of Hip Hop and its expression as a global phenomenon. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
ARTD B140 APPROACHES TO DANCE: THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This course introduces students to dance as a multi-layered, significant and enduring human behavior that ranges from art to play, from ritual to politics, and beyond. It engages students in the creative, critical, and conceptual processes that emerge in response to the study of dance. It also explores the research potential that arises when other areas of academic inquiry, including criticism, ethnology, history and philosophy, interact with dance and dance scholarship. Lectures, discussion, film, video, and guest speakers are included.
ARTD B141 AFRICAN DIASPORA: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
The African Diaspora course cultivates a community that centers global blackness, dance, live music, and movement culture. Embody living traditions from a selection of peoples and countries including Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Brazil, and Cuba. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B143 JAZZ: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
ARTD B144 DANCE COMPOSITION: ELEMENTS AND CRAFT (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This dance composition course introduces students to the craft of choreography. Foundations of dance making, such as space, time, performance, and artistry are explored and refined through the creation of short choreographic studies while observing and reflecting upon the work of peers. This course will explore structured and open movement experiences, such as: movement invention skills; compositional strategies; investigating music, language, images, and objects as sources of individual and collective inspiration. Students will be guided through solo and collaborative methods. Supplemental viewings and readings may be offered to support choreographic processes. Concurrent participation in any Dance Program technique course, either for academic or PE credit, is encouraged.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B148 TAP: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B210 SACRED ACTIVISM: DANCING ALTARS, RADICAL MOVES (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
How do practices of embodiment, choreography, artistry, performance, testifying and witnessing guide us to transformative and liberatory action in our lives? Centered in this course is adornment culture, intergenerational dances, and embodiment as sacred from a range of global perspectives. We will engage altar building through our beings/bodies and with materials, as well as the importance of costume and garb in setting the scene for advocacy, ritual, and staged offerings. Expect to dance, move, write, discuss, create projects, and engage in a variety of text-based and media resources. We will work individually and collectively for communal learning. The content for this course will be steeped in the lives, cultures, and practices of black and brown folks. This is a writing and dance attentive course. No dance experience necessary, just the courage to move.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B225 DANCING HISTORIES/WRITING DANCE (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Black and African American dance is often best analyzed, critiqued, and understood in its sociopolitical context. In this course, there are two questions that will be primary modes of engagement: What are the major American and African American political and social agendas and events in the late twentieth century? What are the major choreographic works in the late twentieth century African American concert milieu? The socio-political and the field of dance merge seamlessly as the centerpieces of this course. As researchers, there are three overlapping aims: to learn about concert dance histories through historical sources, scholarship, and embodiment; to understand the processes of historiography; and to prepare students to undertake their own historical research and scholarship. The course is designed to illustrate how our understanding of the past is dynamic and evolving rather than fixed and static. Through critical engagement with the art of concert dance, Dancing Histories/Writing Dance emphasizes how history is written, questioned, and rewritten through vernacular and sacred dance performance. Assigned readings and viewings of work will enable recognition of how dance scholars have written, and revised, dance histories. Students will develop a strong methodological framework that will allow them to grasp the effects of cultural competence and critical bias, and the ways in which the writing of history is a creative, political, and ideological process. This is a writing attentive course and was originally created by Elizabeth J Bergman.
ARTD B230 MODERN: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of modern dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying modern dance technique; to investigate elements of choreography with an emphasis on modern dance characteristics; to incorporate elements of improvisation and to communicate movement ideas, both individually and collaboratively.
ARTD B231 BALLET: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
ntermediate level dance technique courses focus on expanding the movement vocabulary, on introducing movement phrases that are increasingly complex and rigorous, and on directing attention to dynamics and spatial ideas. Students will be evaluated on their openness and commitment to the learning process, increased understanding of the technique, and demonstration in class of their technical and stylistic progress and accomplishment. Preparation: three semesters of beginning level ballet, or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
ARTD B232 JAZZ: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of modern dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying modern dance technique.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B233 HIP HOP: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of Hip Hop dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying Hip Hop dance technique; to investigate elements of choreography with an emphasis on modern dance characteristics; to incorporate elements of improvisation and to communicate movement ideas, both individually and collaboratively.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B235 TAP: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of tap dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying tap dance technique; to investigate elements of choreography with an emphasis on tap dance characteristics; to incorporate elements of improvisation and to communicate movement ideas, both individually and collaboratively. This course is most suited for students with tap dance experience. Course placement occurs the first week of classes during the designated course time. Attend the first week of classes to be considered for the course. This course is most suited for students with tap dance experience.
ARTD B238 AFRICAN DIASPORA DANCE AND DRUM: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
African Diaspora courses cultivate a community that centers Black international dance and music cultures. In this intermediate course students learn drumming and dancing and embody living traditions from a selection of peoples and countries including and not limited to Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Brazil, and Cuba. The objectives are to experience a progression of movement traditions to develop an understanding of cultural world views, orientations, lifeways, and values through embodied/performance research; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement and music sequences; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying technique; to investigate elements of choreography with an emphasis on African Diaspora dance and drum movement cultures; to incorporate elements of improvisation; to communicate movement ideas; to integrate concepts of movement and music both individually, collaboratively, and collectively. This course is appropriate for intermediate and advanced dancers.
ARTD B243 DANCE COMP: MAKING IN THE MOMENT (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
What movement emerges from your body/being in the absence of memorized choreography? How do you make an improvised dance in collaboration with others? This course is primarily a movement experience course sourced from western practices of dance improvisation. It will include guided movement practices, some readings, viewings, and journaling, as well as partner and group work-- all in service of exploring your improvisation movement practice. We will consider dance as a playful act that belongs to everyone, develop an eye for how composition emerges out of improvisation, and delve into collaboration as a rich creative resource, all of which become platforms to address discourses on body politics, the multicultural foundations of western dance improvisation, and the interdisciplinarity of the form. This course works to build a space in which the vulnerability of your curiosity leads to the discovery of dance compositions and movement that can only transpire through making dance in the moment. Some previous dance experience is good but not necessary; the courage to move is critical and will most support this work.
ARTD B256 DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY (1.0 Credit)
In the fields of dance, embodiment, health, and movement, methodologies and practices of the being/body in motion are well-known as preventative art. This course will build a beginning understanding of dance/movement therapy or DMT. Through experiential exercises, lecture, discussion, and video presentations, students will explore contemporary structures of DMT and the intersection of DMT with social justice, psychology, and neuroscience, with a deep focus on the framework offered by anthropologist dancer Dr. Pearl Primus at the American Dance Therapy Conference in 1969. This course will review the historical roots of dance/movement as a healing art form prior to the western development of DMT, the origins of dance/movement therapy in the United States, and current theoretical frameworks and interventions of DMT. Critical analysis of theoretical structures will be applied in embodied practice throughout the course. This is a writing and dance attentive course. No dance experience necessary, just courage to move.
ARTD B260 DANCE EDUCATION: PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Dance education is a world where teaching and performance coalesce to center being-with-our-bodies as a platform for learning. This course involves collaboratively creating an educational program for young audiences, communities, and participants in various educational sites. The seminar portion of the course engages students in reading, writing, and discussion on various perspectives of dance pedagogy, theory, and teaching strategies. The embodied component of the course brings students into a fluid relationship between theory and practice through teaching, peer-observation, and reflection on arts in education. There will be field visits during the course that include teaching and performance opportunities. This course is intended for students with experience in any dance form or theatrical performance at any level and we welcome students who are courageously beginning their journey with dance. It is embodied and writing attentive.
ARTD B280 PRACTICAL ANATOMY: MUSCLES, BONES, MOVEMENT (1.0 Credit)
Rebecca Malcolm-Naib
KNOW THYSELF! This course is designed as a human anatomy class for students interested in the application of anatomy to physical activities including dance, sport, and movement in general. Students will learn musculoskeletal anatomy, basic kinesiology, strengthening and stretching practices, and injury identification and management. Students will support theoretical knowledge with experiential movement analysis in class. The goal of the course is to present a scientific basis that will aid in a greater understanding of how individual's bodies are shaped and move, and how to achieve greater efficiency of movement and desired performance outcomes.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B315 DANCE ENSEMBLE INTENSIVE (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Dance Ensemble Intensive invites intermediate and advanced dancers to grow their performance abilities extensively, learning choreography from 2-3 guest artists in varying genres and movement cultures. Engage in artistic inquiry and embodied/performance research culminating in an April performance. Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills at a beginning professional level. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment, openness to the choreographic process, and integration of all elements in performance. This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for technical/dress rehearsals and performances in the Spring Dance Concert. If participating in a fall ensemble, students must also commit to scheduled rehearsals in the spring semester.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B330 MODERN: ADVANCED TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
dvanced level technique courses continue to expand movement vocabulary and to introduce increasingly challenging movement phrases and repertory. The advanced modern course focuses on both intellectual and kinesthetic understanding of movement and command of technical challenges and performance. Students will be evaluated on their openness and commitment to the learning process, increased understanding of the technique, and demonstration in class of their technical and stylistic progress and accomplishment. Preparation: three semesters of Modern: Intermediate Technique, or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor. First-year students should contact Lela Aisha Jones at ljones2@brynmawr.edu to discuss placement at mcantor@brynmaw.r.edu.
ARTD B331 BALLET: ADVANCED TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Advanced level technique courses continue to expand movement vocabulary and to introduce increasingly challenging movement phrases and repertory. The advanced ballet course focuses on both intellectual and kinesthetic understanding and command of technical challenges and performance. The last half hour of the class is used for optional pointe or variations with the permission of the instructor. Students will be evaluated on their openness and commitment to the learning process, increased understanding of the technique, and demonstration in class of progress and accomplishment. Preparation: minimum of 3 semesters of intermediate ballet, or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B342 ADVANCED CHOREOGRAPHY (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Independent study in choreography under the guidance of the instructor. Students are expected to produce one major choreographic work and are responsible for all production considerations. Concurrent attendance in any level technique course is recommended. Pre-requisite: ARTD B142: Dance Composition: Process and Presence and ARTD B242: Dance Composition: Elements and Craft.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B345 DANCE ENSEMBLE: MODERN (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers or works reconstructed / restaged from classic or contemporary repertories are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers.
ARTD B346 DANCE ENSEMBLE: BALLET (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B347 DANCE ENSEMBLE: JAZZ (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B348 ENSEMBLE: AFRICAN DIASPORA DANCE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B350 DANCE ENSEMBLE: HIP HOP (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works are choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B353 DANCE ENSEMBLE: CONTEMPORARY (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Perform contemporary artistry that engages classical and traditional forms of various dance genres as fertile ground for manifesting the future of artistic inquiry and embodied research. Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills at a beginning professional level. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in a final concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert. If participating in a fall ensemble, students must also commit to scheduled rehearsals in the spring semester.
ARTD B354 DANCE ENSEMBLE SITE SPECIFIC (0.5 Credit)
Engage in performance based artistic inquiry and embodied research designed in collaboration with architectural structures and the natural environment, revisiting the normalization of dance performance as made for the proscenium stage. Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills at a beginning professional level. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers or works reconstructed / restaged from classic or contemporary repertories are rehearsed and performed in a final concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert. If participating in a fall ensemble, students must also commit to scheduled rehearsals in the spring semester.
ARTD B360 DANCE COMPOSITION: INTER-ARTS MAKING (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This movement and performance based composition course is open to movers of any kind, from any performance background, who want to engage embodied making as intricately intertwined with other disciplines, especially within the arts (sound, costume, film, site, props, etc.). Further, the substance, material, or content which grounds dances will be explored. Collaboration in community and development of individual signature artistic patterns are primary objectives for the students in this course. Students will make artistic projects through engagement in artistic inquiry and embodied/performance research—developing, sketching, and structuring movement ideas in multi-dimensional works grounded in being with the body. Movement exercises, viewing of live and filmed work, discussions, and writing will help to sharpen visual analysis and kinesthetic responses. The course includes journaling, variety of text resources, and viewings but focuses primarily on weekly movement assignments. Concurrent participation in any Dance Program technique course, either for academic or PE credit, is highly recommended. This course is embodied and writing attentive.Course Prerequisite: requires a strong desire to develop a practice of making art individually and in collective.
ARTD B400 SENIOR PROJECT/THESIS (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Majors develop, in consultation with a faculty advisor, a senior capstone experience that will expand and deepen their work and interests within the field of dance. This can range from a significant research or expository paper to a substantial choreographic work that will be supported in a full studio performance. Students who elect to do choreographic or performance work must also submit a reflection paper. Work begins in the fall semester and should be completed by the middle of the spring semester.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTD B403 SUPERVISED WORK (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Research in a particular topic of dance under the guidance of an instructor, resulting in a final paper or project. Permission of the instructor is required.
ARTD B425 PRAXIS III - INDEPENDENT STUDY (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Praxis III - Independent Study
Theater
The curricular portion of the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges' Theater Program focuses on the point of contact between creative and analytic work. Courses combine theory (reading and discussion of dramatic literature, history and criticism) and practical work (creative exercises, scene study and performance) to provide viable theater training within a liberal-arts context.
Theater Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor in Theater are six units of course work, three required (ARTT B150, ARTT B251 and ARTT B252) and three electives. Students must consult with the Theater faculty to ensure that the necessary areas in the field are covered. Students may submit an application to major in Theater through the independent major program.
Theater Performance
Numerous opportunities exist to act, direct, design and work in technical theater. In addition to the Theater Program's mainstage productions, many student theater groups exist that are committed to musical theater, improvisation, community outreach, Shakespeare, film and video work, etc. All Theater Program productions are open and casting is routinely blind with respect to race and gender.
Faculty at Bryn Mawr
Meghan BrodieVisiting Professor of Theater
McKenna Kerrigan
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater
Maiko Matsushima
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater
Catharine Slusar
Associate Professor and Director of Theater on the Theresa Helburn Chair of Drama, and Director of The Arts
Shannon Zura
Visiting Associate Professor of Theater
Courses
ARTT B150 INTRODUCTION TO THEATER (1.0 Credit)
Meghan Brodie
Division: Humanities
An exploration of a wide range of dramatic works and history of theater through research, analysis and discussion to develop understanding and foundations for a theatrical production.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTT B230 WOMEN IN THEATER (1.0 Credit)
Meghan Brodie
Division: Humanities
This course explores provocative portraits of women in plays written by women. Students begin with a tenth-century nun and read their way right up to the present day. This is the subversive side of dramatic literature—the plays not included in most anthologies. We will investigate the objectification and reclamation of the female body, gendered language, intersectionality, and the politics of drama by and about women in their socio-historical contexts.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTT B234 LIGHTING DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
This class is an introduction to the process of lighting design for the theatre. We will explore the steps and skills necessary to navigate the designer’s path from text to production. This course will focus on how to think about light, how light can function as a dramaturgical tool, and how we can communicate lighting ideas to our collaborators.
ARTT B238 STAGE PROPERTIES (1.0 Credit)
Stage properties is a varied discipline encompassing dozens of crafting/building challenges as well as textual analysis, historical and object research, cost estimation and planning, design analysis, and, most of all, the ability to think critically and creatively about some of the performing arts' weirdest challenges. This class will be part lectures and demos by the instructors, and a good part reading, research, presentations, and hands-on design and building work by the students. We'll explore a wide variety of construction and craft techniques as we learn about organizing, researching, acquiring, designing, and building the objects required to create the worlds in which the plays we read are set. This class will exercise students' abilities to think creatively about unexpected and unusual design issues and give them a chance to solve problems in an experiential way.
ARTT B245 STAGING THE REVOLUTION (1.0 Credit)
Catharine Slusar
We will look at and engage with the tradition of revolutionary acts of theater, such as Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theatre, which used plays to critique social issues and incite change, The Living Theatre's performances protesting war and capitalism, Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed empowering marginalized communities, and more recently, the movement started by We See You W.A.T. (White American Theater). Our readings will also include plays by Vaclav Haval, that influenced Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution. We will create our own piece of revolutionary theater to be performed both at Bryn Mawr and in Prague, asking if theater can provoke revolution, or if is it, as Boal says, merely rehearsal for revolution.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTT B251 ACTING I (1.0 Credit)
Catharine Slusar
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This studio course provides an introduction to the basic processes of acting to students of various experience levels. We develop tools and a shared vocabulary using performance exercises, games, improvisation and scene work.
(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
ARTT B252 TECHNICAL THEATER I (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This course is an introduction to the building blocks of technical theater production and covers a wide range of topics in various technical disciplines. Through a combination of lectures, in-class demonstrations, and hands-on experience, students gain a basic understanding of terminology, materials, techniques, personnel, and processes involved in technical theater production. Students will gain some proficiency with tools and technology that will be useful in both theatrical and non-theatrical environments.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTT B253 PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An intensive workshop in the methodologies and aesthetics of theater performance, this course is open to students with significant experience in performance. In collaboration with the director of theater, students will explore a range of performance techniques and styles in the context of rehearsing a performance project. Admission to the class is by audition or permission of the instructor. The class is offered for a half-unit of credit.
(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
ARTT B254 FUNDAMENTALS OF THEATER DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
Maiko Matsushima
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An introduction to the creative process of visual design for theater, exploring dramatic context and influence of cultural, social, and ideological forces on theater and examining practical applications of various technical elements such as scenery, costume, and lighting while emphasizing their aesthetic integration.
(Offered: Spring 2026)
ARTT B255 COSTUME DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
Maiko Matsushima
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Hands-on practical workshop on costume design for performing arts; analysis of text, characters, movement, situations; historical and stylistic research; cultivation of initial concept through materialization and plotting to execution of design.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
ARTT B262 PLAYWRITING I (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An introduction to playwriting through a combination of reading assignments, writing exercises, discussions about craft and ultimately the creation of a complete one-act play. Students will work to discover and develop their own unique voices as they learn the technical aspects of the craft of playwriting. Short writing assignments will complement each reading assignment. The final assignment will be to write an original one-act play.
ARTT B265 SPACES OF POSSIBILITY: SHAKESPEARE AND THE CLASSROOM (1.0 Credit)
Catharine Slusar
Focused on creating and collaborating, this course examines how we access Shakespeare and make Shakespeare accessible while working with 8th graders in Philadelphia. We will work as performers, creators, directors, designers, mentors and audience members. This course will be collaborative, sharing ideas and working as an ensemble comprised of college students and 8th graders. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 Fundamentals of Acting or permission of the instructor.
ARTT B332 THE ACTOR CREATES: PERFORMANCE STUDIO IN GENERATING ORIGINAL WORK (1.0 Credit)
This course explores the actor as creator, inviting the performer to become a generative artist with agency to invent their own work. Building on skills introduced in Fundamentals of Acting, we will introduce new methodologies of training to construct a framework in which students can approach making original solo and group work. Students will use processes employing visual art, found dialogue, music, autobiography, and more. Emphasizing guided, individual, and group collaboration, we will examine the role of the actor/creator through exercises and readings that relate the actor’s creative process to an understanding of self and the artist’s role in communities. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 (Fundamentals of Acting)
ARTT B351 ACTING II (1.0 Credit)
Catharine Slusar
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
A continuation of the methods of inquiry in Fundamentals of Acting, this course is structured as a series of project-based learning explorations in acting. Recommended preparation: Prior experience in theater is recommended but not required, ARTT B251 (Fundamentals of Acting) or permission of instructor.
ARTT B353 ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An advanced, intensive workshop in theater performance. Students explore a range of performance techniques in the context of rehearsing a performance project, and participate in weekly seminars in which the aesthetic and theatrical principles of the play and production will be developed and challenged. The course may be repeated. Prerequisite: ARTT B253 or permission of the instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
ARTT B354 SHAKESPEARE ON THE STAGE (1.0 Credit)
Catharine Slusar
Division: Humanities
An exploration of Shakespeare’s texts from the point of view of the performer. A historical survey of the various approaches to producing Shakespeare from Elizabethan to contemporary times, with intensive scene work culminating in on-campus performances. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 Fundamentals of Acting or permission of the instructor.
(Offered: Spring 2026)
ARTT B356 THEATERS OF AND AFTER SAMUEL BECKETT (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
An exploration of Beckett’s theater work conducted through both reading and practical exercises in performance techniques. Points of special interest include the monologue form of the early novels and its translation into theater, Beckett’s influences (particularly silent film) and collaborations, and the relationship between the texts of the major dramatic works and the development of both modern and postmodern performance techniques.
ARTT B403 SUPERVISED WORK (1.0 Credit)
Catharine Slusar, Maiko Matsushima, Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Research and work in a particular topic of theater under the guidance of an instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
ARTT B425 PRAXIS III (1.0 Credit)
Staff
ARTT B430 PRACTICUM IN STAGE MANAGEMENT (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Over the semester, the student will attend all auditions, rehearsals, and performances of the Bi-College Theater Program production, and will be responsible for managing all the details of same. With the guidance of a mentor and through reading and research, the student will learn to perform the many organizational and communications tasks involved in stage management. Students will be required to read a number of texts with the goal of understanding the vast scope of the job, the artistry and authority expected of a stage manager, the variations in styles of stage management, and the standard procedures a student stage manager can incorporate into a college setting. Each student will be expected to keep a daily journal of their experience—intellectual, artistic, and practical. The journal is their own and is meant to stimulate and deepen their thinking about the process. This practicum requires that a student be willing to engage in the production process both as an artist with an intellectual stake in the work and as an adult with a position of real authority in the group. The student will be expected to use that authority while always remaining calm, polite, kind, and generous to the artists with whom they are working. Prerequisites: Prior academic work in theater and the permission of the instructor
(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)